Name With the Face: Kristen Meinzer

Job Title: Senior Producer

Organization: Panoply

URL: panoply.fm

Job Function

Kristen Meinzer, senior producer with podcast network Panoply, which helps companies produce and monetize podcasts, draws heavily on both communication and technical skills in her job. “I engineer, edit, and produce podcasts, and I also co-host and co-write my own podcast, By the Book,” Meinzer says. She also manages a team of podcast producers, but says, “I prefer the word ‘advocate’ or ‘go-to person’ over ‘manager.’”

In a Day’s Work

Meinzer starts each day by issuing a hearty greeting when she arrives at Panoply’s Brooklyn office. “I think it’s important to acknowledge people when I arrive, even if they have their headphones on or are knee deep in their own work,” she says. After a quick check of email and Slack messages, Meinzer moves on to her production duties: editing audio, writing scripts, and engineering studio sessions. Pitch meetings, editorial meetings, host meetings, and periodic meetings with direct reports and her own boss fill the time until it’s time for her similarly jaunty farewell.

Most Memorable Customer Encounter

“One of my biggest customers is Gretchen Rubin, who hosts the Happier podcast. A few months after I took the reins of her show, I suggested we start using other outlets for listener engagement, and we created a Happier 911 Playlist in Spotify. Hundreds of people submitted song suggestions, hundreds more listened, and Spotify went on to ask Gretchen to make another playlist for Women’s History Month.”

View From the Desk

“I am fortunate to have an adjustable standing desk and try to stand two-thirds of the time I’m at work, for my posture and to stay alert. There’s a window behind me with a view of the grassy center quad of our mixed-use office and academic campus.”

Outside Interest

“I spend a lot of time with friends—eating, imbibing, enjoying free outdoor activities in the summer, shopping stoop sales, and walking. I love walking all around the five boroughs of New York, across the bridges, to flea markets and farmer’s markets and street fairs and parks. My other big interests include Dolly Parton, Oprah Winfrey, Target, and real estate.” 

If Not Econtent, Then What?

“I’m a real estate junkie. I love all the HGTV shows, I adore crashing open houses, and I’ve been known to stay up late looking at listings and reading about the market. So I’d probably be a real estate agent. Or work at Dollywood.”